Bloodbound HQs

[ADDriot]

Hi all

I've now got roughly 1,500 points of Bloodbound painted, with the Mighty Lord of Khorne and the Gorechosen heroes (excluding the Slaughterpriest) unpainted. The only warlord that I've used is the Juggerlord. I've been impressed with him, especially his durability, but wondered what other potential warlord options would offer. What are people's experiences with the warlord options available to Khorne Bloodbound?

[RuneBrush]

I've only used the Mighty Lord of Khorne and found he's pretty solid in combat.  Has gone toe to toe with most things I've thrown him against with the exception of a Great Unclean One

[Tom W]

The mighty lord is a great threat-maker, though perhaps not the most durable..his axe can really put fear into your opponent's expensive single models. I've always liked to use the Aspiring DB as a general, just to make use of his +1 attacks bubble. I'm also a fan of the skull grinder (not as the general) as he can really put out a lot of damage if you buff his number of attacks using the multitude of Khornian ways!

[Cowboy Boots Matt]

In all honestly the best Bloodbound general is the Aspiring Deathbringer, I have resisted using him as he is becoming the 'default' choice however he works so well with the rest of the army. His one downside is the fact is somewhat easy to kill and good opponents will take him out quickly, but at the end of the day you are only losing an 80 point model.

I would then go for the Jugger lord as a second choice due to resilience and his situationally good command ability.

[Wolden Spoons]

I do think we tend to lack decent command options so you invariably see the same one or two. Luckily our buff heroes add never ending extra command abilities so take advantage of them to bridge the gap.

[kozokus]

There is basically only 4 warlord option as any hero without command ability makes no difference, except for some command trait combos and i can't think of any that are really interesting.

-The Exalted Deathbringer : Gives everybody cmd 8 at 12-24 range, this is by far the worst command trait as you have probably brought a banner that makes everybody unbreakable at 18". Wherether he is or not near a general when he is himself the general is a question to debate. He is best used as a bruiser, 80 pts is cheap and in line with the skullgrinder and the khorgorath both in costs and dammages. Unfortunately, the hero section of the bloodbound is crowded and you should probably keep him outside your army unless you really loves the model or want to makes fluffy armies.

-The Aspiring Deathbringer : Gives +1A at 6" range. The support hero is as cheap as his exalted brother. He is very weak in combat and you should never takes him for his dammage. He has a nice ability that makes him angry when someone run away but as he doesn't hit hard, hitting twice isn't relevant. The +1A is one of the strongest buff you can have in your army but 6" is very short and you can only catch 2-3 units at best. In smaller games he is very interesting for sure. However, if you compare him with the bloodsecrator you can notice several things : Same buff of +1 attack but at 18" range that covers almost all your army and makes it immune to battleshock for +40 pts. Plus the ADB is limited only to MORTAL KHORNE (excluding demons and khorgorath) and the Secrator is KHORNE everybody. Sure, the Secrator gives up on mobility but you don't want thoses heroes in combat anyway. Plus the Secrator also have a nice antimagic ability which doesn't matter anyway..  oh and he has a 3+ sav (and he hits harder). Conclusion : he is very nice for his cost but you can also afford a deluxe version and keep your command ability for someone else.

-The Mighty Lords of Khorne

I keep them together because they ar extremely similar.

In terms of command ability they both select 3 units at extreme 24" range and makes them "3 dices, 2 best charge" or "+1 to wound if you charged". So basically one secure your charge and the other one makes your charge more murderous. About the 3dice charge it changes your roll in a very good way : when you roll two dice the average result and the center of your probability curve is 7, when you roll 3 the highest curve is at 9, makes low results extremely rare and 12" charge more likely to happen. Basically you have 20% chance to roll 6" or lower and 20% to roll 11-12", this is very good.

On the other side, +1 to wound is pretty explanatory and boost sinificantly your combat and have synergy with certain units like the skullreaper formation. It is very good too.

The only downside of those command ability is that they are totally useless if everybody is already in combat. This is rarely the case.

Speaking of the lord by himself they cost the same, the jugglord has +3 mov, one more wound and is a tiny little bit more murderous with his D3 dammage charge and demonic axe, but the lord on foot has the potential to autokill any model be it a stardrake or Nagash 1/3 of the time, and that happens surprisingly a lot of time, mostly on 5-6 wound models. On the utility side, the jugg has a 4++ against spells and the footlord can dispell every magic, both are equally valuable.

Basically the true choice is between the two lords and no one is obviously better than the other, it all depend of the situation. They are however a little bit pricy at 140 points.

(For my part i always choose the lord on foot because he has a ****** angry dog that eat magic and sending ennemy heroes to Khorne is badass.)

 

[ADDriot]

41 minutes ago, kozokus said:

There is basically only 4 warlord option as any hero without command ability makes no difference, except for some command trait combos and i can't think of any that are really interesting.

-The Exalted Deathbringer : Gives everybody cmd 8 at 12-24 range, this is by far the worst command trait as you have probably brought a banner that makes everybody unbreakable at 18". Wherether he is or not near a general when he is himself the general is a question to debate. He is best used as a bruiser, 80 pts is cheap and in line with the skullgrinder and the khorgorath both in costs and dammages. Unfortunately, the hero section of the bloodbound is crowded and you should probably keep him outside your army unless you really loves the model or want to makes fluffy armies.

-The Aspiring Deathbringer : Gives +1A at 6" range. The support hero is as cheap as his exalted brother. He is very weak in combat and you should never takes him for his dammage. He has a nice ability that makes him angry when someone run away but as he doesn't hit hard, hitting twice isn't relevant. The +1A is one of the strongest buff you can have in your army but 6" is very short and you can only catch 2-3 units at best. In smaller games he is very interesting for sure. However, if you compare him with the bloodsecrator you can notice several things : Same buff of +1 attack but at 18" range that covers almost all your army and makes it immune to battleshock for +40 pts. Plus the ADB is limited only to MORTAL KHORNE (excluding demons and khorgorath) and the Secrator is KHORNE everybody. Sure, the Secrator gives up on mobility but you don't want thoses heroes in combat anyway. Plus the Secrator also have a nice antimagic ability which doesn't matter anyway..  oh and he has a 3+ sav (and he hits harder). Conclusion : he is very nice for his cost but you can also afford a deluxe version and keep your command ability for someone else.

-The Mighty Lords of Khorne

I keep them together because they ar extremely similar.

In terms of command ability they both select 3 units at extreme 24" range and makes them "3 dices, 2 best charge" or "+1 to wound if you charged". So basically one secure your charge and the other one makes your charge more murderous. About the 3dice charge it changes your roll in a very good way : when you roll two dice the average result and the center of your probability curve is 7, when you roll 3 the highest curve is at 9, makes low results extremely rare and 12" charge more likely to happen. Basically you have 20% chance to roll 6" or lower and 20% to roll 11-12", this is very good.

On the other side, +1 to wound is pretty explanatory and boost sinificantly your combat and have synergy with certain units like the skullreaper formation. It is very good too.

The only downside of those command ability is that they are totally useless if everybody is already in combat. This is rarely the case.

Speaking of the lord by himself they cost the same, the jugglord has +3 mov, one more wound and is a tiny little bit more murderous with his D3 dammage charge and demonic axe, but the lord on foot has the potential to autokill any model be it a stardrake or Nagash 1/3 of the time, and that happens surprisingly a lot of time, mostly on 5-6 wound models. On the utility side, the jugg has a 4++ against spells and the footlord can dispell every magic, both are equally valuable.

Basically the true choice is between the two lords and no one is obviously better than the other, it all depend of the situation. They are however a little bit pricy at 140 points.

(For my part i always choose the lord on foot because he has a ****** angry dog that eat magic and sending ennemy heroes to Khorne is badass.)

 

41 minutes ago, kozokus said:

 

Great post. Thanks for the insight.

[Cowboy Boots Matt]

Quote

-The Aspiring Deathbringer : Gives +1A at 6" range. The support hero is as cheap as his exalted brother. He is very weak in combat and you should never takes him for his dammage. He has a nice ability that makes him angry when someone run away but as he doesn't hit hard, hitting twice isn't relevant. The +1A is one of the strongest buff you can have in your army but 6" is very short and you can only catch 2-3 units at best. In smaller games he is very interesting for sure. However, if you compare him with the bloodsecrator you can notice several things : Same buff of +1 attack but at 18" range that covers almost all your army and makes it immune to battleshock for +40 pts. Plus the ADB is limited only to MORTAL KHORNE (excluding demons and khorgorath) and the Secrator is KHORNE everybody. Sure, the Secrator gives up on mobility but you don't want thoses heroes in combat anyway. Plus the Secrator also have a nice antimagic ability which doesn't matter anyway..  oh and he has a 3+ sav (and he hits harder). Conclusion : he is very nice for his cost but you can also afford a deluxe version and keep your command ability for someone else.

You cannot compare an Aspiring Deathbringer to a Bloodsecrator, for one simple reason.

You take BOTH.

Pure Bloodbound advance as a solid wall, you want to get your buffs up and let the enemy charge your lines, because you can take the punishment and dish it out in equal measure. 

[kozokus]

1 hour ago, Cowboy Boots Matt said:

You cannot compare an Aspiring Deathbringer to a Bloodsecrator, for one simple reason.

You take BOTH.

Pure Bloodbound advance as a solid wall, you want to get your buffs up and let the enemy charge your lines, because you can take the punishment and dish it out in equal measure. 

Taking both is ok. Or taking two bloodsecrator, but the reroll magic and unbreakable aspects of the BS are redundant (also the synergy with reavers). What the ADB offers is a 30% price decrease, more mobility at the cost of -12" range on the +1A buble. What i do not like about this hero is that what it offers is aviable somewhere else and prevent you from using another command ability. Furthermore, if this hero is not your general he does next to nothing. his dammage are ****** for 80 pts compared to a khorgorath or an ExaltedDB and his utility is null. I see his place in restricted point army where you want a +1A buble that will covers most of your force because they are not numerous and don't want to invest too much in BSecrators to keep room for grinders, priests and lashers. He is by far one of the best hero in  1000- points games.

[ADDriot]

I don't think I'd ever drop my Bloodsecrator for an ADB, but taking both could be an option. The immunity to battleshock and the +1 attack at huge range is too good to miss out on. That and your opponent always has a big decision to make as to whether to try and take out the bloodsecrator in the backline or deal with the buffed units.

[Cowboy Boots Matt]

Let me dissect what you are saying:

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Taking both is ok.

Taking both is a no-brainer,  Khorne Bloodbound are a synergy and buff army. He can hit multiple units with the aura while standing behind a wall of Blood Warriors.  You then sit within the 18" bubble of your Bloodsecrator (or conga back a few models). You can give the majority of your army +2 attacks. You can then sit Wrathmongers behind this, providing +3 attacks to multiple units.

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Or taking two bloodsecrator,

Personally I find this an expensive option, however I am aware that people advocate this, I tend to bare in mind that some tournament comp packs (not everyone's focus) won't stack the buff. There is a benefit to covering your entire battline with the relevant buffs rather than stacking them.

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but the reroll magic and unbreakable aspects of the BS are redundant (also the synergy with reavers)

I don't see how this is irrelevant in the scenario of taking an Aspiring Deathbringer and a Bloodsecrator. If you are referring to talking 2 Bloodsecrators then you would never stack them on top of each other but would instead overlap the 18" bubble so you cover as much of your army as possible. I personally do not rate Blood Reavers unless they are equipped with Meatripper Axes and you take the Dark Feast formation. That said, it is difficult to get the most from the Bloodsecrator and get the extra attack buff on the Blood Reavers as they will quickly be out of range of the Bloodsecrator who cannot move when the banner is planted.

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What i do not like about this hero is that what it offers is aviable somewhere else and prevent you from using another command ability. Furthermore, if this hero is not your general he does next to nothing

It's ability is not available elsewhere as you STACK the abilities, you have missed the point of his. No other command abilities are this strong, they either help you charge (not needed in Bloodbound) or help you wound on the charge (good but situational).

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His dammage are ****** for 80 pts compared to a khorgorath or an ExaltedDB and his utility is null.

Again, he is an 80 point buff model, he is not there to do damage, he buffs the rest of the army so they do more damage.

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I see his place in restricted point army where you want a +1A buble that will covers most of your force because they are not numerous and don't want to invest too much in BSecrators to keep room for grinders, priests and lashers. He is by far one of the best hero in  1000- points games.

Wrong, he is the best choice for a Bloodbound army right up to 2k. This is why you see him so widely used in tournament lists.

[Tasman]

I'm surprised Valkia isn't getting more love. She's a killing machine! When used properly she'll dish out a world of hurt and never take any damage.

[kozokus]

19 hours ago, Cowboy Boots Matt said:

Taking both is a no-brainer,  Khorne Bloodbound are a synergy and buff army. He can hit multiple units with the aura while standing behind a wall of Blood Warriors.  You then sit within the 18" bubble of your Bloodsecrator (or conga back a few models). You can give the majority of your army +2 attacks. You can then sit Wrathmongers behind this, providing +3 attacks to multiple units.

This is how awesome bloodbound can be.

19 hours ago, Cowboy Boots Matt said:

Personally I find this an expensive option, however I am aware that people advocate this, I tend to bare in mind that some tournament comp packs (not everyone's focus) won't stack the buff. There is a benefit to covering your entire battline with the relevant buffs rather than stacking them.

Wasn't aware that some tournament won't allow buff stacking, this is an issue. Spreading buff or stacking is dependant on your overall strategy but you looses a lot of things by stacking two secrators.

19 hours ago, Cowboy Boots Matt said:

I don't see how this is irrelevant in the scenario of taking an Aspiring Deathbringer and a Bloodsecrator. If you are referring to talking 2 Bloodsecrators then you would never stack them on top of each other but would instead overlap the 18" bubble so you cover as much of your army as possible. I personally do not rate Blood Reavers unless they are equipped with Meatripper Axes and you take the Dark Feast formation. That said, it is difficult to get the most from the Bloodsecrator and get the extra attack buff on the Blood Reavers as they will quickly be out of range of the Bloodsecrator who cannot move when the banner is planted.

I was indeed speaking about the scenario of two Bloodsecrators where you cannot reroll twice the ennemy magic and makes your units twice more unbreakable. Dark feast is awesome, you should consider it anytimes, however you are right, 12" is a short buff range and your losses makes you quickly out of it.

19 hours ago, Cowboy Boots Matt said:

It's ability is not available elsewhere as you STACK the abilities, you have missed the point of his. No other command abilities are this strong, they either help you charge (not needed in Bloodbound) or help you wound on the charge (good but situational).

Stacking, maybe, the point of my reflexion is : Do you want your Command ability to be +1A, Something you can also have in the Bloodserator(s) or do you want your Command to be something else you CANNOT find anywhere else. This is an open question and all depends on your army composition. But i do not agree with your "helping you charge is not needed" and "+1 to wound is situational", they are both awesome buffs unaviable to every other army. Indeed +1 to wound is weaker than +1A, but you can have all of them.

19 hours ago, Cowboy Boots Matt said:

Again, he is an 80 point buff model, he is not there to do damage, he buffs the rest of the army so they do more damage.

The point was that other potential generals have utility even when they are not generals, The juggerlord and the EDeathbringer are still bruisers and the lord on foot still dispell and send stardrakes to Khorne. The Aspdeathbringer does nothing outside beeing a Command abulity on foot. There is no point however because you wil never ever take the aspdeathbringer if you don't take him as a general.

19 hours ago, Cowboy Boots Matt said:

Wrong, he is the best choice for a Bloodbound army right up to 2k. This is why you see him so widely used in tournament lists.

Beeing in several tournament lists doesn't mean it is the best choice. Thoses lists where maybe axed around some strategic consideations/restriction that needed the Aspiring Deathbringer. Also, people are lazy and love to netdeck (sorry i am a mtg player ><) their lists without thinking too much about about the "how and why" (By the way i haven't found a lot of list with him and i would gladly watch them). I admit that i rarely see Pure bloodbound lists at all and see a lot of mixed demon/mortal khorne with a Bloodthirster as general and 1-2 Bloodsecrator.... or Sayl ... ******!